CONFLUENCES. Art interventions in the towns of Route 99
Sacañet is a village in the Alto Palancia and it is situated at 1020 meters above sea level. It has a harsh and windy climate, is surrounded by almond trees, and currently has a population of around 600 inhabitants. On a clear day you can see the Penyagolosa, and even the sea.
Our way of approaching this project in this context has been through observation and active listening in order to propose an intervention that has low environmental impact and which increases the resource value of the actual surroundings.
To do this, we walked along the footpaths, we went into gaps and ditches, we climbed up in the snowfields and discovered the sources of pure water. We also had conversations with some of the inhabitants. The words of Miguel and Ernesto, Mayor and Councilor respectively; of Chelo, the Administrator; and of Tono, the artist of the village, helped us to discover the diverse experiences and views from a single place. All of them brought up the conflict between the romantic idea and the difficulties of what it means to be from the village.
This spoken memory of the evolution of Sacañet is the material that has invited us to reflect on the present and future of life in a rural setting, the depopulation, the intermittent life of its streets and tracks, the lack of services, the way the inhabitants relate to each other. The difference between being from the village and being in the village.
You can download here more information about our intervention in Sacañet.
Makea Tu Vida is a collective working in the area that exists between Design and Ecology. Their practices aim to promote open design, the interchange of knowledge and collective creativity applied to the reuse of materials in different contexts and situations.
